Firearm



Aug. 8, 1939. w. L. SWARTZA FIREARM Original Filed April 13, 1937-.Inventar WiL/jam L. Swartz' .E 0m Y Mt rngy" Patented ug. 8, 1939 UNTEST rer ori FIREARM Connecticut Original application April 13, 1937,Serial No. 136,630. Divided and this application July 26, 1937, SerialNo. 155,609

7 Claims.

One object of this invention is to provide safety means of novelconstruction for locking the ring pin of a rearm against movement exceptwhen the user is properly gripping the arm preparatory to firing.

Another object is to provide a construction of the above character inwhich there is substantially no danger of the firearm jamming due tobreakage of some of the elements of the ring pin safety lock mechanism.

A further object is to provide a safety means of the above characterwhich is operated by a movab.e member on the grip portion of a firearm,which member also serves to lock the trigger mechanism against movementto ring position except when the user is properly gripping the armpreparatory to firing.

From this specication further objects and advantages of the inventionwill be apparent to those sldlled in the art.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No.136,630, led April 13, 1937, Patent No. 2,140,946.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown the embodiment which I now deempreferable, but it will be understood that the drawing is intended forillustrative purposes only and is not to be relied upon as limiting ordefining the scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of thisspecication being relied upon for that purpose.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a firearm embodying the invention,certain parts being broken away to more fully disclose the invention andother parts being further broken away to show other details.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the breech portion of the rearm ofFig. 1 showing the parts in another position.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. l. Y

In rearms it is common practice to provide a firing pin which may beforcibly moved into Contact with the primer of a cartridge to fire thesame. I consider it desirable to provide means for locking such a firingpin against movement to firing position except when the arm is beingproperly gripped by the user preparatory to firing in order to avoid thepossibility of the rearm being unintentionally discharged.

For locking the firing pin a member may be provided which is adapted tomove to and from a (Cl. Lift- 70) position in which it prevents.movement of the tiring pin into Contact with the cartridge. Theinvention relates to such a locking construction and in accordancetherewith I preferably mount a movable member on that portion of the armwhich must be gripped by the user preparatory to tiring and provide anactuator for transmitting movement from this movable grip member to thelock. The actuator may move the lock either into or out of lockingrelationship with the iiring pin, although for reasons which will beapparent hereinafter I now prefer to have the actuator slidable to movethe lock out of engagement with the firing pin,

The invention is susceptible of application to most types of iirearmshaving a firing pin but for the purpose of this specification I haveillustrated it in connection with an automatic pistol of the type shownin U. S. Patents No. 984,519 and 1,070,582. ing a part of thisspecication, the pistol comprises a frame or receiver l, a barrel 2, areciprocable slide or breech bolt 3, a firing pin 4, a grip 5, a trigger6, and a hammer l. In the pistol illustrated the grip is adapted to holda magazine containing a plurality of cartridges which may besuccessively fed into the chamber of the barrel, red, and ejected byrepeated retraction of the trigger and automatic reciprocation of thebolt, all in a known manner.

The iiring pin 4 is slidably mounted in a hole 9 in the bolt and isurged to retracted position by a spring 9 abutting at one end against ashoulder i9 on the firing pin and at the other end against a portion ofthe bolt. Rearward movement of the ring pin is limited by a stop li. Thering pin is of such length that when the hammer is in its uncookedposition it may rest against the stop il without moving the firing pinsuiciently to cause its forward end to project beyond the front face ofthe bolt 3. It should, however, be understood that the hammer delivers asudden blow to the rear end of the ring pin when the .gun isintentionally discharged and the momentum of the ring pin causes it tobe projected beyond the front face of the bolt to fire the cartridgeprimer.

In accordance with the invention a ring pin lock l2 is provided which ismovable into and out of locking engagement with the firing pin and whichmay be mounted on any part of the firearm and have any desired type ofmovement. When used on a rearm of the type illustrated I at presentprefer to slidably mount the lock in the bolt which may be transverselyapertured as As shown in the drawing format I3 to receive the lock.Although other forms of locking engagementmay be used, I have shown thering pin asbeing provided with the shoulder IA in front of which thefiring pin safety lock I2 may project to effectively prevent movement ofthe firing pin beyond the front face of the bolt. While not strictlyessential, I prefer to provide means for biasing the lock and suchmeansisA In the illustrated con'- found in the spring I5. struction thelock receiving aperture 3 intersects the rear sight groove I6 in thebolt and the rear sight I in conjunction with the firing pin, serves tohold the lock and spring in place, although any desired construction forthe purpose may be adopted. The spring I5 is inescapably confined in itsreceiving recess by the lock and the rear sight; wherefore, if thespring should break the pieces could not get into the action of thefirearm to cause jamming. The shape of the lock is not critical, thesame being only dependent upon the other details of construction used,and in the construction shown it is generally L- shaped with the leg ofthe L projecting downward, the forward lower corner of which is providedwith the cam surface I8.V The leg is notched as shown at I9 in Fig. 4 sothat the extractor 20 may be removed from the bolt without necessitatingthe removal of the lock I2.

The means for moving the` lock may be of different forms depending .uponwhether the lock is mounted on the bolt or on the frame, and alsodepending upon whether the lock is biased, either to or from ring pinengaging position, or not.

With the construction illustrated I now prefer to slidably mount afiring pin safety lock actuator 2| in a cavity 22 in the frame, it beingheld therein by a pin 23 which passes through an elongated slot 24 inthe actuator. The actuator includes a portion 25 which, when the partsare in the position shown in Fig. l, projects upward so that the endthereof is substantially flush with the top of the frame but which, whenthe parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, projects above the top fthe frame to move the lock I2 out of engagement with the firing pin. Thebolt 3 has a groove 26 formed therein for receiving the projecting endof the actuator when it is in its raised position.V The lock engagingportion of the actuator 2| projects only slightly above the top of theframe. The frame thus supports theactuator closely adjacent its lockengaging end against the reactionary thrust of the lock as the boltreciprocates. This construction practically eliminates all danger of theactuator breaking.

fn accordance with the invention movable means for operating theactuator is provided on some portion of the firearm which must begripped, it-of course Ybeing apparent that the type of movable meansprovided and its. form of connection with the actuator will be dependentupon the specific type of Ysafety lockV and actuator adopted foreffecting the purposes of the invention. The means for operating theactuator may be designated as a grip safety, the term as used hereinbeing intended to include any such means on the grip which is movableupon properly gripping the firearm preparatory to firing. When theconstruction takes the form illustrated, a grip safety such as shown at2'! is now preferred. The safety 21 is pivotally mounted in the frame bya pin 28 and-it includes a downward extending portion 29 which generallyconforms with the shape of the grip. This safety is furtherprovided'with a portion 30 which extends beneath vis adapted to actuatea sear to release the hammer from cocked position. The portion 33 of thegrip' safety is so shaped and positioned that when the grip safety is inthe position of Fig. 1, the triggeris blocked against retraction, butwhen the parts are in the position of Fig. 2 the trigger may be moved tofiring position.

The operation of the disclosed embodiment is as follows:

If the firearm is not being properly gripped preparatory to firing, theparts thereof occupy the positions shown in Fig. l, that is, the firingpin safety lock is engaged with the firing pin to prevent movement ofthe latter to firing position should such movement tend to take placedue to any cause, and the portion 33 of the grip safety is in a positionto prevent movement of the trigger to firing position. If the pistol beproperly gripped for firing, the grip safety 2'I will be swung inwardand consequently'the portion 30 thereof will be moved upward. Thisupward movement will slide the actuator 2| upward which in turn willmove the firing pin safety lock out of locking engagement with thefiring pin, the pin now being free to be moved to firing position. Asthe portion 33 of the .grip safety is moved upward it also frees thetrigger for retraction. Assuming Vthat the pistol is loaded and thehammer cocked, the trigger may now be retracted to release the hammer.When the piston has been fired by contact of the firing pin with acartridge, the bolt willV be caused to-slide rearward in a known manner.YAfter the bolt has moved rearward to some extent the safety lock l2will move out of engagement with the actuator 2| and will be biased bythe spring into engagement with the firing pin. Further rearwardmovement of the bolt will serve to extract and eject the empty cartridgeand cock the hammer, all in the usual manner. The bolt will then bemoved forward to breeched position but in so moving the lock I2 willcome into engagement with the actuator 2| and by reason of the camsurface I8 will again ybe moved out of locking engagement with thefiring pin and the pistol may be again red as before, assuming thatduring the forward movement of the `bolt a cartridge was fed into thechamber.`

If the users grip on the pistol should now be released the partswould bereturned to the positions of Fig. 1 due to the combined action of thesprings I5 and 3|. It should be noted that the spring I5 not only servesto insure proper movement of the safety lock I2 to locking position butalso aids the spring 3| in performing its function, therefore if thespring 3| should for any reason fail to move the grip safety to itssafety position any particular embodiment except as defined in theclaims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination With a iirearm including a frame, a firing pin, and agrip portion, of a iiring pin safety lock, rectilinearly slidable meansfor moving the lock, and a grip safety movable to operate said slidablemeans.

2. The combination with a firearm including a frame, a bolt, a ring pinslidably mounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a firing pin safetylock on the bolt, rectilinearly slidable means mounted on the frame formoving the lock, and a grip safety movable to operate said slidablemeans.

3. 'Ihe combination with a rearm including a frame, a reciprocable bolt,a firing pin slidably mounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of afiring pin safety lock on the bolt, slidable means mounted on the frameand including a portion engageable with said lock for moving the same,said slidable means being mounted in the frame so as to be supportedthereby closely adjacent its lock engaging portion against reactionarythrust of the lock during reciprocation of the bolt, and a grip safetymovable to operate said slidable mass.

4. The combination With a rearm including a frame, a bolt, a iiring pinmounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a ring pin safety lock, aspring for biasing the lock to operative position and being inescapablyconned Within a recess in the firearm, means for moving the lock toinoperative position, and a grip safety movable tooperate said means.

5. The combination With a firearm including a frame, a bolt, a ring pinmounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a spring, a ring pin safetylock normally biased to operative position by said spring, said lockbeing movable to operative position by gravity when said rearm is inasub stantially upright position upon breakage of said spring, and meansincluding a grip safety for moving the lock to inoperative position.

6. The combination with a firearm including a frame, a firing pin, and agrip portion, of a main sear, trigger mechanism movable from and to anon-ring position and engageable with the main sear to release the same,a firing pin safety lock, a firing pin safety lock actuator, and meansmounted on the grip portion directly engageable with the triggermechanism for normally locking the trigger in non-ring position butmovable from normal position to permit trigger movement to ring positionand to move said actuator to lock releasing position.

7 The combination with a firearm including a frame, a ring pin, and agrip portion, of a main sear, trigger mechanism movable from and to anon-firing position and engageable with the main sear to release thesame, a firing pin safety lock, an actuator for moving the ring pinsafety lock to inoperative position, and means separate from saidactuator mounted on the grip portion directly engageable with thetrigger mechanism for normally locking the trigger in non-ring positionbut movable from normal position to permit trigger movement to ringposition and to move said actuator to release said firing pin safetylock.

WILLIAM L. SWARTZ.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,169,08L\.. August 8, 1959.

WILLIAM L. SWARTZ.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5,first column, line 27, .claim 5, for the word "mass" read means; andthat the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction thereinthat the sa'me may conform to the record of the case in the PatentOffice.

Signed and sealed this 19th day of September, Ao D; 1959,

Henry Van Arsdal'e,

( Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Patent No. 2,169,053 August 8, 1959 WILLIAM L. swARTz.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5,first column, line 27, claim 5, for the word "mass" read means; and thatthe said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein thatthe sa'me may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 19th day of September, Ao D. 1959,

Henrsr Van Arsdal'e,

( Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

